Isner Wins First Clay Title

The tours have now completely turned to clay, and a couple of unexpected winners turned up.  Tommy Robredo turned back to clock to win in Casablanca while John Isner shook off poor early season results to best two lovers of the dirt-Almagro and Monaco-en route to his first clay title in Houston.  And on the women's tour, it was another victory for a 30-something, when Roberta Vinci upset Kvitova in the inaugural event in Katowice, Poland.

Good Stories
-Tommy Robredo (ESP) after some injuries, coming back to win a title
-Henri Laaksonen (SUI) and Pablo Carreno-Busta (ESP), both 21-yr-old qualifiers ranked around 300, each winning a match in Casablanca
-Rhyne Williams (USA) reached his first ATP semifinal in Houston.  He is up to #117 in the world.
-Jack Sock (USA) winning a match in Houston, then taking Isner to a 3rd set tiebreak.  He is up to #118 in the world.
-Paolo Lorenzi (ITA) reached his 5th quarterfinal of the year in Houston.  Only Ferrer, Berdych, Almagro, and Simon have done the same.
-Qualifiers/lucky losers went 5-0 in the Katowice first round and 7-5 overall.  They Anna Schmiedlova (SVK), Jill Craybas (USA), and three listed below
-Annika Beck (GER), no. 2 among players born in '94, reached the semis in Katowice
-Karolina Pliskova (CZE), no. 4 among players born in '92, followed up her title with a quarters appearance in Katowice with a win over Kanepi.

Bad Stories
-Ryan Harrison (USA) is really struggling this year, and the draws aren't helping him out as he lost to Isner in R1 in Houston
-Shahar Peer (ISR) having dropped so low she is a lucky loser at Katowice.  At least she was able to make the quarters there.
-The Radwanska sisters not showing up in Katowice's inaugural event.

ATP 250: Houston, TX, United States

5) John Isner (USA) def. 1) Nicolas Almagro (ESP) 6-3 7-5

-Isner wins 6th career title, last '12 Winston-Salem

-It is his first title on clay, he has now won on all 3 surfaces

Defending champion: Juan Monaco (ARG) - SF l. to Isner

Quarterfinalists: 3) Juan Monaco (ARG), 7) Paolo Lorenzi (ITA), Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (ESP), Ricardas Berankis (LTU), Rhyne Williams (USA), Q) Robby Ginepri (USA)

Players reaching QF in '12 and '13: Isner, Monaco, Anderson (F at Casablanca this year)

Locals performance: 12-9, besides the quarterfinalists mentioned above, Smyczek and Sock won matches.  Losing in the first round were Harrison, Blake, Russell, Johnson, and q-Klahn

Americans performance: see above

Third set tiebreaks: Williams def. Karlovic (R2), Isner def. Sock (R2)

ATP 250: Casablanca, Morocco

Tommy Robredo (ESP) def. 2) Kevin Anderson (RSA)

-Roberdo wins 11th career title, last '11 Santiago (2+ yr drought)

-10 of his 11 titles have come on clay ('07 Metz)

Defending champion: Pablo Andujar (ESP) - R1 l. to Carreno-Busta

Quarterfinalists: 1) Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI), 3) Martin Klizan (SVK), 4) Benoit Paire (FRA), 7) Robin Haase (NED), 8) Grega Zemlja (SLO), Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP)

Players reaching QF in '12 and '13: Paire, Garcia-Lopez

Locals performance: 0-2

Americans performance: none

Other notable winners: 19-yr-old Jovana Jaksic (SRB), ranked no. 356, qualifying and beating Dushevina before losing to Kirilenko.

Third set tiebreaks: Zemlja def. Bachinger (R1)

WTA International: Katowice, Poland

2) Roberta Vinci (ITA) def. 1) Petra Kvitova (CZE) 7-6(2) 6-1

-Vinci wins 8th career title, last '12 Dallas
-It is her 4th clay title and she has won titles on all 3 surfaces

Defending champion: none - first year of tournament

Quarterfinalists: Petra Martic (CRO), Annika Beck (GER), Karolina Pliskova (CZE), Q) Maria Elena Camerin (ITA), Q) Alexandra Cadantu (ROU), L) Shahar Peer (ISR)

Players reaching QF in '12 and '13: none

Locals performance: 0-2, losses for Domachowska and Zaniewska

Americans performance: 1-1, q-Craybas beat Goerges but then lost to Peer

Third set tiebreaks: Peer def. Pironkova (R1)

The Fed Cup will be this coming weekend so I'll run that down later this week.

The men have a Masters event in Monte Carlo, and here are those defending the big points.
Rafael Nadal (ESP) def. Novak Djokovic (SRB)
Semis: Tomas Berdych (CZE), Gilles Simon (FRA)
Quarters: Andy Murray (GBR), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA), Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI), Robin Haase (NED)

I fully expect Nadal to win his 9th consecutive Monte Carlo title, without much trouble.  I wonder if Djokovic will really play after his ankle injury in Davis Cup last week.  How did Haase ever reach the QF last year?